HOSPITAL workers are to be offered "unpopular" Guildford Borough Council maisonettes in a bid to solve the problem of housing for key workers.

Teachers working at Howard of Effingham School have already been allocated short-term accommodation in houses earmarked by the council for redevelopment, because of their difficulty in finding affordable homes.

After discussions with the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust, members of the borough council's housing and community policy panel agreed to lease some properties in Park Barn to the hospital.

The situation will be reviewed after 12 months to see how it is working.

The councillors were told that the maisonettes in Park Barn were unpopular with council tenants because of management problems, difficult access for young families with children and the lack of private gardens for some of the flats.

Under the scheme, as current tenants vacate the homes, the borough will offer them to the hospital.

The properties in Hopton Court, Farleigh Court, Wealdon Court and Bargate Court would also form part of the Affordable Housing Action Plan, which aims to provide 450 homes across the borough over the next four years.

A hospital spokesman said: "We would be grateful for the opportunity to let any properties that the council made available.

"This would help us to attract more key staff to the RSCH such as nurses, radiographers and therapists if we could offer them affordable housing."

The director of housing and health services at Guildford Borough Council, Adrian Maunders, said: "The maisonettes will be leased to the hospital as existing tenants vacate them and will provide spacious accommodation for its key workers which is close to the hospital.

"Just recently three teachers at Howard of Effingham School were housed by the council.

"This was in housing which is being considered for redevelopment and so unsuitable for permanent homes but has provided an excellent short-term solution for the teachers.

"This should not be considered to be queue jumping by key workers or housing people in unfit accommodation, but the best allocation of resources by the council to meet all the various housing needs within the borough.

"The final decision on the change will be taken by the council's executive committee next week, before it can become policy."